Lions take BYU's Ziggy Ansah in draft

Ezekiel Ansah, from Brigham Young, stands with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, left, and Barry Sanders after being selected fifth overall by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2013, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

ALLEN PARK — Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah didn’t come out of nowhere, it just seems like it.

Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz said he first learned of Ansah the week before the Senior Bowl in January.

Ansah, a 6-foot-5 defensive end, was the Lions pick at No. 5 overall in the NFL draft on Thursday night.

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A native of Ghana, Ansah has not played much football. Thirty-one games exactly. That’s over the last three seasons at BYU. He has nine starts, all in 2012 when he had 4.5 sacks and 62 tackles.

Ansah, on a conference call Thursday night, said he never saw a football game until he arrived at BYU in 2008 on an academic scholarship. His sports idol was LeBron James. Ansah tried and failed to make the BYU basketball team. Friends encouraged him to try out for football. He walked on at BYU in 2010.

He said the journey from Ghana to BYU to the NFL has been “a humbling experience.’’

When it comes to football, raw is a word that best describes him. That does not scare the Lions. They coached him at the Senior Bowl. Without that week of getting to know Ansah, the pick might not have been made.

“If you looked at it from a book standpoint you would have to say that (he’s a project). When you watch film and put your hands on him for a week ... We drafted him to be on the field, we didn’t draft him as a project,’’ Schwartz said. “We saw everything we needed. ... He’s inexperienced, but he’s very instinctive, he has the skill sets we’re looking for.’’

General manager Martin Mayhew offered no specifics on whether he tried to move up to get one of those tackles, instead saying he’s always looking for opportunities. Other options at No. 5 for the Lions would have been cornerback Dee Milliner (Alabama) and offensive guards Jonathan Cooper and Chance Warmack.

Know this, the Lions do not see Ansah as a consolation prize.

“I talked to his former (BYU) coach Bronco Mendenhall today. He spoke very highly of him,’’ Mayhew said. “He talked about when he came, he didn’t even know how to put his equipment on and how far he’s come.

“The one thing he talked about with Ziggy was how much he loves the game, how much he loves to learn about the game, how much passion he has to learn about it,’’ Mayhew added. “We’ve got the right coaches here to teach him about it.’’

With the pick, the Lions filled one of their biggest needs. Cliff Avril and Kyle Vanden Bosch, who started the last three seasons at defensive end, are both gone. Avril signed as a free agent with the Seattle Seahawks and Vanden Bosch was released.

The Lions did sign free agent defensive end Jason Jones who played for Schwartz at the Tennessee Titans. And Willie Young, a seventh-round pick in 2010, will return.

“This was a time when the grade matched up with the need and it worked out great for us,’’ Mayhew said.

BYU used Ansah in a variety of roles.

“When we gave him the opportunity, the way that we play (wide nine) he had 1.5 (sacks) and another big hit and a tackle for loss in the Senior Bowl. We can’t be worried about how he was used at BYU,’’ Schwartz said. “... We think he’s a very good fit for us. He can play right defensive end, he can play left defensive end, we can move him around a little bit, he has that kind of skill set.’’

Schwartz also said, “We do think he has more upside than he’s shown.’’

Ansah did not make a pre-draft visit to Detroit and doesn’t know much about the city.

He will make his first visit on Friday when he’s introduced as the newest member of the Lions organization.

The NFL draft continues at 6:30 p.m. Friday with rounds two and three, and wraps up starting at noon Saturday with rounds four through seven. The Lions have a pick in each round with two picks in the seventh round.